E-E-A-T
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness. Google's quality rater guidelines use this framework to evaluate content. Not a direct ranking factor, but it informs what Google considers high quality.
Why It Matters
E-E-A-T isn't an algorithm you can optimise for with a meta tag. It's a framework Google's human quality raters use to evaluate search results, and it shapes the algorithm's direction. Google wants to surface content created by people with genuine experience and expertise, published on authoritative sites that users can trust.
This matters most for YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics - health, finance, legal, safety. But it increasingly applies everywhere. The bar for content quality is rising, and E-E-A-T is the rubric.
In Practice
Demonstrate experience - show you've actually done the thing you're writing about. First-hand knowledge, original data, real examples. Not regurgitated advice from other articles.
Build expertise signals: author bios with real credentials, links to relevant publications, consistent topical focus across your site. Authoritativeness comes from backlinks, mentions, and recognition in your field.
Trustworthy sites have clear contact information, privacy policies, accurate content, and transparent sourcing. If your site looks like it could disappear tomorrow, it won't score well on trust.
Related Terms
Glossary
Topical Authority
How comprehensively your site covers a subject - depth beats breadth for rankings.
Glossary
Content Cluster
A group of related pages around a core topic, connected by internal links.
Glossary
Backlink
A link from another site to yours - still one of Google's top ranking factors.
Glossary
White Hat SEO
SEO that follows search engine guidelines - sustainable, penalty-free, and worth the wait.
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